Population monitoring of arboreal mammals should be informed by estimates of detection probabilities from different methods. We employed trapping and spotlighting across 36 transects to detect the squirrel glider. The probability of detection did not differ between one night of spotlighting (0.23 ± 0.04, mean ± s.e.), or one night of trapping (0.22 ± 0.03). Photograph by Brendan Taylor.

Are male animals more vulnerable to parasites and disease? We found that male kangaroos with artificially lowered testosterone levels did not have lower parasite burden compared to the average male kangaroo. Our study aims to better understand what drives natural selection in one of Australia’s most iconic marsupials.

The desert rat-kangaroo or ‘ngudlukanta’ once occurred in north-eastern South Australia and adjacent parts of Queensland but is now presumed extinct. However, spurred on by some recent sightings we searched for the animal throughout its former distribution using camera trapping, spotlighting, and predator scat analysis. Although we found no evidence during our survey for its continued existence, we did detect other threatened species in this poorly-surveyed region of arid Australia.

Obtaining accurate counts of bats using caves is important for management but when numbers are large, it is difficult to do accurately and regularly. In this study we obtained counts of Australia’s largest insectivorous bat colony using an automated system. The results suggest that over 100 000 little-bent-wing bats use Bat Cleft each year, and the population is likely stable. Photograph by J. Augusteyn.

Western grey kangaroos can reach very high densities under favourable conditions, which could represent a competition threat for the sympatric endangered black-flanked rock-wallaby. Investigations into potential for dietary competition between these two species within Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary, Australia showed dietary and spatial overlap, suggesting potential for competition. We make recommendations for future conservation actions to mitigate threats to rock-wallaby populations, including possible control of western grey kangaroo densities.

We describe burrow use behaviour in greater bilbies exposed to a temperate climate for the first time using a translocated population in southern South Australia. Bilbies in our study used multiple burrows within their home range, regularly moved between diurnal burrows and male bilbies had larger burrow ranges with more overlap than did females. Burrow density was 2.75–5.0 times the density of bilbies at the site, indicating that burrows were likely a common landscape feature in areas where bilbies were once in high density. Photograph by Karleah Berris.

Bandicoots are a unique group of marsupials endemic to Australia and New Guinea. The New Guinean species remain among the most poorly studied mammals in the world. This manuscript provides novel insights and a literature review investigating the diets, dental morphology, gastrointestinal anatomy and natural history of the non-Australian species. This research also highlights some of the important ecosystems functions they perform.

Important conservation research on greater gliders is often limited by the ability for ecologists to capture this species, as it spends the majority of its time in the canopy. We describe a new method for the safe capture of greater gliders from their hollow using tree climbing. We found the climb and catch method is successful at capturing gliders and here we describe how to identify the location of their dens and the tree climbing capture process.

Marine spatial planning in Papua New Guinea is impeded by a lack of data on the abundance and distribution of high biodiversity values. We surveyed cetaceans in inshore and pelagic waters along the south coast of New Britain in March 2020. We document our sightings of six species, and highlight emerging resources for contributing observations to a growing data repository. Photograph by Lisle Gwynn.

Red-legged pademelon occurs as distinct sub-species in eastern Australia; the north Queensland subspecies differ in their ecology and conservation status from those in north-eastern New South Wales, but data comparing abundance and activity patterns in these populations are lacking. We found pademelons were detected at a higher rate at a north Queensland site compared with a northern New South Wales site, but both populations had remarkably similar activity patterns. Our results add important information about future conservation of these populations.

The collection of blood from live small rodents is essential to many research endeavours. We describe our experiences and provide recommendations for the collection of blood from Australian rodents. Such reports facilitate sampling rarely sampled species and promote animal welfare. Photograph by Dr Elisa Sparrow.

Eastern wallaroos were detected on a boulderfield at Mt Loch, near Hotham Heights. These observations, ~73 km from their nearest record in Victoria, are the highest altitude at which the species has been recorded, and the furthest Victorian records from NSW. Eastern wallaroos are listed as Endangered in Victoria due to the low number of observations in the state, but this finding implies that they are more common in the state’s north-east than previously thought.